The Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2020 Round-up report reveals that 50 journalists were killed over the past year and, while this number has fallen year-on-year since 2018, two-thirds of these murders were in countries that are “not at war”.
Over the past decade, 2012 and 2013 were the deadliest years for journalists, with 147 and 143 deaths, respectively. Meanwhile, the least deadly years were 2020, which had 50 deaths, and 2019, which had 53 deaths. That being said, it is thought that this year’s lower number may be in part due to the fact the fewer reporters have conducted field work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the disconcerting findings of the report is that more and more of these deaths are taking place in countries that are considered to be “at peace”, perhaps indicating the erosion of the freedom of peace in democratic societies.
In 2016, 58% of ‘media fatalities’ were recorded in ‘war zones’; this number stands at just 32% in 2020. Admittedly, there is now a smaller sample size, but countries like Mexico, India, the Philippines, and Honduras are now creeping up the list and are now above, or at par with, the traditional suspects like Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In fact, over the past year, Mexico recorded the most media fatalities, with eight, followed by Iraq with six, Afghanistan with five, and India and Pakistan tied with four.
The most ‘dangerous’ stories remain relatively unchanged, with ten journalists killed for investigations into “cases of local corruption and or misuse of public funds”, while four were killed for looking at the “activities of organized crime.” However, one of the changes this year was that seven reporters were killed for their coverage of protests, with four of these journalists in Iraq, two of them in Nigeria, and another in Colombia.
Alongside deaths, the report revealed that 387 journalists are currently detained as a direct result of their profession, with 2020 recording a 35% increase in the number of arbitrary detentions of female journalists.
The organization also noted in detail some of the more gruesome fates that journalists met. In Mexico, El Mundo reporter Julio Valdivia Rodríguez was beheaded, while the body of the editor of Punto x Punto Noticias, Víctor Fernando Álvarez Chávez, was chopped into pieces. In India, Rashtriya Swaroop reporter Rakesh “Nirbhik” Singh was burned alive in his home in Uttar Pradesh after uncovering the corruption of a local official, while a TV reporter in Tamil Nadu, Isravel Moses, slashed repeatedly with a machete. In fact, India now ranks 142nd out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders’ 2020 World Press Freedom Index, down from 133rd in 2016.
The most infamous incident of all was perhaps that of Rouhollah Zam in Iran, the editor of AmadNews, who was hanged by the state in the first execution of a journalist in the country for thirty years. In fact, his death invited severe criticism from international actors like France, Austria, Italy, Germany, and the European Union. Zam was a vociferous dissident of the incumbent government in Iran and his website and Telegram channel provided details of the anti-government protests from December 2017, which were sparked by a sudden surge in food prices. Consequently, he was awarded the death sentence after a “corruption on Earth” conviction, which is a term used in Iranian circles to describe espionage charges. Following this, he was granted asylum by France. However, while travelling to Iraq from Paris, he was captured by the Iranian authorities.
The full report can be found here